Agricultural harvesters such as combines or windrowers, travel through fields of agricultural crop harvesting the crop. In one common arrangement, agricultural harvesting heads extend forward from the agricultural harvester to engage the plant stalks, sever them, and carry the severed crop into the body of the agricultural harvester itself for further processing. To do this, the agricultural harvesting head has a reciprocating knife supported on the frame of the harvesting head. This reciprocating knife extends laterally, perpendicular to the direction of travel of the agricultural harvester. It extends substantially the entire width of the agricultural harvesting head. The reciprocating knife severs the crop across the width of the agricultural harvesting head and permits it to fall rearward into a laterally extending conveyor. This conveyor conveys cut crop from opposing lateral ends of the agricultural harvesting head to a central region of the head. In the central region, the conveyor changes the direction of crop flow and conveys it rearward into a feeder house of the agricultural harvester.
The cut crop conveyors on the head are typically made in three sections, left section that conveys the cut crop inwardly from the left side of the harvesting head to the central region, a right section that conveys the crop inwardly from the right side of the harvesting head to the central region, and a center conveyor that receives the crop from the left section in the right section and conveys it rearward into the feeder house of the agricultural harvester.
The left and right sections are typically formed as endless flexible belts supported at their inner end and their outer end on elongate rollers mounted to the frame of the agricultural harvesting head. These belts have a forward edge that is tilted downward toward the ground immediately adjacent to the reciprocating knife in order to catch all of the cut crop material as it falls onto the harvesting head immediately behind the reciprocating knife. These belts have a rear edge that is elevated above the front edge. As a result, the upper surface of the belt is tilted. The tilt of the belt permits grain in the cut crop material to roll down the belt until it reaches the forward edge of the belt adjacent to the reciprocating knife. If the grain reaches the forward edge of the belt, it eventually falls through gaps between the belt and the frame of the harvesting head, falls onto the ground and is lost.
What is needed is an endless belt for an agricultural harvesting head that reduces the ability of the grain to roll down the surface of the endless belt. It is an object of this invention to provide such a belt.